


Birthdays and grey leaves

by WoeyLeaf



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Child persona 4 protagonist, Day 2, De-Aged Characters, First Meetings, Kid Souji, Kid Yosuke, M/M, No Spoilers, Pre-Canon, Souyo Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24880186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoeyLeaf/pseuds/WoeyLeaf
Summary: When his parents forget his seventh birthday Yosuke takes a walk around the city park and comes across a sad grey-haired boy near the slides.This was supposed to be For Souyo week 2020, Day 2: Yosuke's BirthdayorSunny
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke & Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke & Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke & Seta Souji, Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61
Collections: Souyoweek 2020





	Birthdays and grey leaves

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something I wrote on a whim to get me back into the mood of writing again. Despite the fact that souyo is my favourite ship I haven't actually written anything for them so I thought why not? It's not my most serious writing and is very late but I thought since I already wrote it I might as well post it so you shouldn't expect much from this, unfortunately I was only able to write just one this time. Surprisingly writing for prompts is actually quite motivating, I should have probably starting using them much sooner.

On Yosuke's seventh birthday his parents had forgotten Yosuke's birthday. He tried not to be upset about it, honestly, but for a seven year old child that was a very hard thing to accomplish.

At first he thought that his parents were still groggy after having just woken up during the morning and would tell him happy birthday. After his seemingly normal breakfast he figured that they were probably planning on surprising him later, maybe if he was lucky they were going to plan an awesome surprise party like they did last year when all of his friends came over and sang karaoke with the machine his parents rented out for the day. Not to mention the trip he and his parents take to the city park every year and buys him taiyaki from the taiyaki stall that appears by the the city park gate every year during the hot summer after his mother bakes him her special birthday cake. Every year was a surprise because each year she'd make him something different on his birthday, her cakes were always the best; apart from that carrot cake she'd made a few years prior (this year he hoped it would be chocolate).

Twenty minutes later he had gotten dressed and had brushed his teeth he scavenged around his room for his school bag and made his way down the stairs. At the door he was greeted by his mother where she handed him his lunch and gave him a goodbye kiss. Dodging the neighbour's pet cat on the doorstep he made his way to school. Since the school was only a ten minute walk he managed to convince his parents at the start of the school year that he could walk their by himself since it was really close to their flat so It wasn't by any means dangerous since he knew his way around the city quite well. It was sometimes nicer to have his parents drop him of by the gates but he knew that when they did they would be significantly later to work so he really didn't mind, however sometimes they did make an effort to pick him up on the way home so he didn't mind. Besides he liked breathing in the fresh air whilst he took a slow walk to school to wake him up before the school day started- Well semi-fresh air, it was considered fresh being the city and all.

Wednesday morning he took his usual seat by the window and his teacher began to lecture the class on their recent maths scores they had gotten on last week's test. Honestly it was really hard to concentrate what with the hot humid June heat. At the start of the year he thought it was a good idea to sit closest to the windows during the spring since this floor had the nicest view of the city, you could even see the city park from the window were he usually played in during the weekends when his parents weren't busy with work. When he saw the row by the window nearly completely empty at the start of the week he thought he had gotten lucky that year because usually it was hard to get to sit by the windows, but of course this was Yosuke: He was never lucky. Turns out he forgot to account for the summer months, he didn't realise that the classes three and four faced the East on the year 3 floor. It was hard even keeping his shirt on during the morning, it this was only the start of summer he doesn't even want to think about when it hits mid July.

After modern Japanese he took to the wall outside the canteen with his friends to eat his seemingly normal lunch with his friends. Most of his friends stayed for just a few minutes in favour of playing football in the tennis court because of the 'nice' weather leaving him with just Izumi and Yumi-chan during lunch break. (That reminded him that he probably needed to join a club soon, his homeroom teacher had been nagging him about it anyway, but most of them were either crafts clubs or sport teams- neither Yosuke was good at).

By the time the last bell went signalling the end of yet another long school day he knew that his friends had forgotten what day it was supposed to be- which was fine because he knew that they had other things to worry about, it's fine he totally understood; Tanaka-kun had his baseball try outs and Yumi-chan was busy on her quest to ask out that kid from next door. He could have told them himself, he knew that as soon as he would have told them they would have congratulated him and maybe would have bought him a pudding from the school kitchen, but he felt like that would have defeated the point of it. It meant more to him for them to remember than any half-baked congratunary; besides he felt more of a tag-along than a genuine friend. It didn't really settle with him being viewed as an ignorant burden to them, they were already as nice to him as they were, it would have been selfish of him to ask anymore from them. He wasn't the outcast per se, it was more like he was so plain and generic that anyone could easily replace him quite easily, or at least that's what it felt like to him.

With nothing much else to do he put away the last of his books and made his way to the door and left the classroom into the corridor to wait for his friends. As per usual they walked the same usual path and the three of them talked about non essential topics such as the homework he had yet to do or the new game the other's parents had bought them recently and had invited Yosuke over next week to play with them. As he neared his flat he quickly waved goodbye to his friends and made way up the path that lead to the complex dodging the same grey cat on the landing (which on note only appeared to have moved a mere few inches from this morning).

Despite being an extremely hot day it was relatively cloudy and appeared much darker than normal at this time during early summer, it looked like it could rain at any given moment but the skys couldn't quite agree quite when to do so. Even probably despite being warm rain Yosuke practically hoped it would be sometime soon. He opened his door and with a quick tug he dropped his bag in the general direction near the coat rack on the floor.

Just like his friends it was wrong of him to hope that at least his parents would remember, but by the time nearly an hour had passed in the living room with his father still at work in his office and his mother had her nose in some sort of home improvement magazine he knew that they too had forgotten. It was okay, really. It was a really hot day, too hot and most people cared more about cooling down more than some birthday. It was cool, he understood. He'd probably would be thinking the same too, plus he was nearly in his double digits anyway, isn't that round about the time when parents stopped fusing about their kids birthdays? I mean when was the last time his parents made a big deal of theirs? He doesn't even remember the last time they ever did anything for it. In fact when was their birthdays anyway..? He should probably ask about that sometime, though he doubts that he could even afford anything worthwhile with his pocket money for them, and he was way too old to be drawing childish cards at this point.

With no comfort from the usual evening programmes on the living room T.v he looked out of the window and then to the clock on the wall. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go on a quick walk right now... It was barely four and he was sure it wasn't going to be raining that much if it were to. It probably would be better than sitting around for the rest of the day, at least his mother was making curry today.

His mother gave him the go after he had asked her and as long as he was back before his father then she didn't mind since they only lived at the edge of the city where the traffic was much calmer around this time. He shuffled back into his trainers this time and hadn't bothered changing out of his school uniform as slipped out the door and down the stairs after giving his mother a quick goodbye.

With no destination in mind he slowly walked down the street, he sighed in content as he felt the gusts from the evening vehicles passing him by. After a while he found himself by the nearby park on instinct and found no reason not to enter. Other than a few obnoxious kids by the trees with a few gossiping mothers watching on he pretty much had the whole park to himself.

He thought about sitting on the swings before quickly realising that they were made of metal, and with only wearing shorts... Well it wasn't a good idea. Instead he opted to sit on top of the slide jungle seeming since it was one of the few things made from thick plastic rather than the hot metal. 

His seventh birthday could have been a lot worse than this considering all possibilities but still he would have preferred for at least one person to remember what today was supposed to have been, he hadn't even thought of the few presents he had been gyped from. When he was younger it had been much easier to convince his friends to play outside with him after school but now even when their not even ten yet playing outside seemed childish to them if it didn't include either standing around gossiping or playing some kind of ball game that Yosuke had zero interest in, but even still it was still fun playing as long as he was with his friends. Playing by himself in a park with no one around except a couple of pre-schoolers seemed kind of sad, so he just watched over the nearby city skyline relaxing in his own thought (not like that was any less sad). 

He eventually rested his head back on the hard plastic backing and just watched everything else moving around him; from the cars by the near by street he had just crossed to the breeze that seemed to rattle the shrivelled grey leaves from the hot summer sun that barely clung to their branches. He wasn't quite sure how long he had sat there but when he felt a wet sensation on his nose he snapped back from his half-watered thoughts. 

Ah... It was starting to drizzle. Surprisingly it didn't make him feel any better than he thought it would have done.

Only cladded in a white T-shirt he decided that now was a good time to head home anyway, he didn't want his shirt to become see-through. The humid rain only made him feel worse.

If it wasn't the sudden movement he would have missed it completely. As he looked over the side he realised that someone had came to sit by the side of the slide during the time that he had been here. They were wearing a thin water coat and had had their head between their crossed legs.

Usually Yosuke was never the one to harass strangers but judging from the way they held their head it was obvious that they were crying. With one quick motion he set to jump off the top of the slide jungle and crouched by their side. 

"Hey, are you alright there?"

They must not have noticed him but as soon as he spoke the kids shoulders jerked and flinched slightly away from him. The kid's head slowly raised from its position and turned partly to face him.

Okay, maybe the kid hadn't been crying but he still looked kind of upset.

Now that he looked closely he could see small tuffs of unusually grey hair poking out of his already grey coat hood. Despite being a dull grey it stood out quite a lot considering it was not a normal colour a kid his age would usually have, so much so he missed that the kid was starting at him. What kind of kid had grey hair anyway? He looked about the same age as himself judging the nature of his face, though his expression did slightly scream 'mature'. For a second he wondered in in fact he was sat next to a pensioner and not a child, though he doubted that was the case. Though his hair and size proved otherwise, his grandfather was pretty short for his age so if he didn't see his young face it could have been possible at a glance. Oddly though he found that he kind of liked it, it suited the stranger quite well.

He didn't realise that he had been making the kid uncomfortable when they glanced back down to the ground from his rather intensive gaze. A quick apology died in his throat as the kid hesitantly shook his head which took Yosuke a few moments to realise that it was for the question that he had previously asked.

Honestly, he hadn't expected the kid to reply even though that was the usual response when one is asked a question. He waited a few moments more to allow the stranger to elaborate what was clearly upsetting him but they didn't say anything more than just that simple gesture.

He thought about asking them directly but soon realised that it he wasn't even entitled to know and shifted from one knee to the other after having found that the other had been starting to die on him, but he also realised that he didn't know what else to say to them and walking away at this point felt awkward and also strangely rude to him. So Yosuke being Yosuke he just said the first thing that came to his head that didn't sound completely insulting.

"So are you alone?"

God that was a horrible thing to say, it made him sound creepy but also judgemental like he was trying to imply that the kid didn't have any friends. Yosuke had quite a few friends yet he was by himself at the park. 

Thankfully the stranger gave another subtle nod, he responded a little quicker this time. Hopefully he didn't take offence to it. Feeling a little more confident he pressed the stranger with more questions.

"It's a pretty hot day out, I can hardly handle this heat. I don't know how anyone can handle it, you'd think this rain would make you feel better but it's so humid out it just makes you feel sticker. " Yosuke gestured to the sky briefly with a tilt of his head. "Thought it would be a good idea to get some fresh air to cool down. You probably thought it was a good idea too to cool of down in this shade too, that's probably why you're here as well, aren't you? "

"...yeah, I guess so. "

This time it was Yosuke's turn to flinch, it had been the first time the kid had talked. Even if it had been unnaturally quiet.

"Yup, when in doubt a good walk will clear everything." Yosuke gave a forced laugh. "Sometimes, doing nothing can be the best thing on a day like this. It really gets you thinking. By the way my name is Hanamura Yosuke."

.

.

.

A few more moments passed after that and Yosuke started to feel painfully uncomfortable from where he was crouching on the ground, but he didn't exactly want to sit on t the ground either seeming as it was starting to get semi-wet. But yet he still didn't feel like leaving him yet.

"Hey do you want to go on a walk from here, I always find moving around quite nice despite what they say." 

After the kid gave him a brief but troubled look followed after a long moment of silence he found himself trying to quickly take back his offer before his expression changed back to its neutral state.

"Okay."

It wasn't much of a walk considering the size of a normal city park, but it was nice none the less. Yosuke started finding himself smiling a little more each time he managed to make the kid talk. It was never nearly enough to make a full sentence but he was still starting to talk more each time he asked another question. At first Yosuke thought it was just down to the kid being shy but he eventually began to realise that it was probably just the way he was. Somehow Yosuke found himself not minding much at all. It was nice to talk to someone without them prying into his life in return. He didn't ask him about his life and Yosuke didn't ask him about his. It was oddly nice how the silence that most commonly passed between them was far from uncomfortable.

Soon he had found themselves making a full circle of the park and were nearing back to the same slide. glancing back he noticed the food stall that was near the back gates that was usually parked there during the spring and summer months when the city had more visitors and from the more local areas.

He had forgotten about it actually until now, he thought about buying a taiyaki on the way over but it just felt a little weird to buy just one for himself. This kid was kind of alright, maybe he would buy one for him too- as compensation for listening to Yosuke's rants.

Knowing the kid would probably regret his offer out of courteously so he went and bought two before they could say anything using some loose change left from his pocket money, besides who could hate taiyaki anyway? 

He practically shoved the napkin towards the grey-haired boy who briefly examined the intruding object before taking it into his hands. The boy's face seemed to slightly scrunch up as if they were trying to come up with something nice to say in return but eventually settled with a simple 'thanks'.

By the way he stared at it Yosuke could probably guess that he had never tried one before. As he ate his he watched the other as he gave the sweet treat a hesitant bite. He seemed to be thinking about it for a little while before Yosuke realised that the strange kid was actually smiling for the first time since he had found him earlier, even if it was only briefly and very small it was still a smile afterall. Soon too Yosuke realised that he also found himself smiling as well.

"Thanks for sticking around for me. As I thought it was way better to spend my birthday with someone rather than just by myself. " he gave a weak grimise before it was replaced with a small but genuine chuckle. "Really, thanks. It means a lot too me."

Replied with only silence Yosuke took it as a signal that now was probably a good time to get going before his mother chewed him out for being late. (In fact, what time was it anyway..?).

He rocked on the balls on his feet before eventually standing back still. "Well it was nice hanging out with you know that? Anyway it is probably the best I went home now though. I'll catch you later okay?" As he moved towards the park gates he was stopped by the other's voice. It had been the clearest he had ever heard it that evening.

"... It's your birthday today..? "

Yosuke tilted his head slightly to see the grey-haired boy still standing in the same spot a few moments prior. "Errm, yeah..? Don't worry I mean what I said, it was pretty cool hanging out with you. Today has been quite bad actually. "

Yosuke waited a little while longer before continuing his way to the park entrance.

"Happy birthday... "

He turned around to flash the strange boy a smile.

.

.

.

As he made his way home he had realised that it was sunny out. (When had it stopped raining?) Though that day may not have been the best birthday it wasn't completely the worst. Though all they did was mostly spending the evening talking, or Yosuke doing most of the talking and the other mostly listening maybe when it was his birthday he would do something nice in return... Actually he didn't even know when the other kid's birthday was. In fact he didn't even know what the boy's name was! ... Leave it to Yosuke asking all but the important questions.

Oh well, he thought. He'd probably catch him later on anyway. He'll ask him then.

**Author's Note:**

> And he never does. Until nearly a decade later and had completely forgotten about him. The kid on the other hand I wonder if he still remembered from that day.


End file.
